Offshore platforms for various uses, including ocean research, are in widespread use throughout the world. The majority of these platforms are found in the offshore petroleum industry in exploration and production functions.
The offshore drilling industry and the technology associated with it have developed rapidly in the last thirty years. The drilling rigs in use today have evolved into sophisticated structures, designed and built to withstand the severest of environmental conditions and to operate in very deep waters. Advanced computer technology has contributed substantially to bring platform development to its present position. Computers are integral, for example, to the collection and evaluation of geological and seismic data, to the operation of dynamically positioned platforms, and to methods of well control.
In spite of the advanced state of technology, accidents and storm effects requiring evacuation from drilling platforms still occur with alarming regularity. Such accidents may include, for example, fire on board. In addition to this type of accident, environmental conditions off certain coasts, such as off Eastern Canada, are especially severe with extremes of wind and wave, and a frequency of storms above that found in other areas. The "100 year storm" standard for this area is based on a wave height of 31 meters. Both accidents and weather conditions may necessitate evacuation of the platform. Such occurrences have in recent years lead to very substantial loss of life by virtue of the inadequacies of the evacuation systems.
Unfortunately, evacuation systems and the component parts of those systems have not kept pace with the rapid development of technology in the platform itself. There are currently, in particular, shortcomings in all three major components of evacuation. These components are the mustering and boarding procedure, the launch and the removal of the survival craft from the area of the platform. As a result, there is a critical need for a safe means of evacuation of a drilling platform in last resort situations. The present invention addresses the launch part of the evacuation.